Altopiano di Asiago

Adriana Benetti-Longhini

I was born in Arusha, Tanzania in Africa below the slopes of Mount Meru and her majestic neighbour Kilimanjaro. During the 70's my parents left Tanzania for greener pastures in South Africa, first to Durban and then eventually to Johannesburg.

I studied Fine Arts in Durban, South Africa, where I ventured into the world of photography, loving the hours in the darkroom developing predominately black and white photos. I started my career in advertising, progressing to interior design and eventually to photography full time.

In recent years I have gone back to live in Asiago, northern Italy near the Dolomites where my ancestors originated. I have a huge love for Europe and the diverse beauty she offers, and this continues to inspire me to use the magic of light and capture what my eye sees and share it with the rest of the world.

The Altopiano di Asiago or Altopiano dei Sette Comuni, (Plateau of Asiago) is situated in the Veneto region of North Eastern Italy and is a large plateau near the border of the Trentino-Alto Adige/Südtirol regions in the foothills of the Alps.

Asiago is the principal town with a population of roughly 6,500. The town was the site of a battle between Austrian and Italian forces on the Alpine Front of World War I. The Asiago War Memorial seen in my photo of the sheep transhumance, is a World War I memorial located on the outskirts of the town and houses the remains of over 50,000 Italian and Austro-Hungarian soldiers. In Italy the memorial is typically called Sacrario Militare di Asiago or Sacrario Militare del Leiten. Leiten is the name of the hill on which the memorial sits.

There are many traditions on the Altopiano that are fiercely protected by the local population. The most important one being the annual religious rite of the “Grande Rogazione” A tradition handed down for centuries, for over four hundred years. This ritual is celebrated precisely forty days after Easter and consists of a procession that lasts a whole day, in which prayers and thanksgiving songs are performed in Cimbro, the original language of the Asiago plateau.

The region is the origin of the world famous Asiago cheese and is a major Italian DOP (Protected Designation of Origin) cheese. During the spring, summer and autumn seasons the Altopiano of Asiago is a spectacular area for walking, hiking and mountain biking, with more than 500 km of tracks available. During the winter months, snow conditions permitting, it becomes a destination for winter sports, particularly cross- country skiing.